UR EAN DESIGN assocrates Nashua Downtown Master Plan
u1 Historic Analysis
THOUGH DANIEL ABBOTT 18 WIDELY REGARDED as the “Father 15
of Nashua,” the area of the City now known as Downtown was
designed by Asher Benjamin from 1824 through 1827. Primar-
ily known for his use of the pattern book for residential design,
Nashua was Benjamin's only foray into town planning. Ben-
jamin originally planned Nashua as an industrial town with an
area for the region’s textile manufacturing on the river, drawing
power for its operation from Mine Falls located three miles
west. His ideas were utilitarian and simple. A north-south
main street provided a bridge across the Nashua River at its
north end, leading to Union Square, a public space and railroad
depot known today as Railroad Square. A cross-axis was estab-
lished along Factory Street, which defined the heart of the
Downtown. At one end of the Factory Street axis stood the
Olive Street Church, later Pilgrim Church; and at the other
end, the great smoke stack of the Nashua Manufacturing
Company. These simple but powerful urban relationships
remained intact for over 150 years
The Olive Street
Church, Asher
Benjamin’ beautiful
religious structure,
defined the end of a
visual axis between
itself and the Nashua
Manufacturing
Company buildings.
